(fonuts) a foodie review

Since I’ve been traveling so much lately, I’ve made a point of it to connect with other gluten free foodies in the area while being sure to hit up all the local gluten free hotspots for my meals. Yesterday I went to the newly opened fonuts to try out their gluten free offerings. By the time I arrived, they were nearly sold out, which made me both apprehensive and all the more curious to sample their baked, not fried donuts. And I’ll be the first to say that I am usually somewhat pessimistic, but today I was determined to let my guard down and be open minded. The bake shop was simple and adorable and the smell of chocolate cake was in the air, so I was a happy camper.

Of the six gluten free flavors they offer, they only had one left and it was still in the oven when my turn came up in line, so I had to wait 20 minutes to snatch up a chocolate hazelnut baby before they locked the front door and called it a day. But waiting didn’t bother me. It gave me a chance to be still and just enjoy the anticipation.

The chocolate hazelnut fonut I got tasted good but the texture reminded me more of a chocolate sponge cake and not a donut, so my barely there hope evaporated after the first bite. For a cake, it was great; light and fluffy with a nice moist crumb, but for a donut, it was completely off the mark. Cake style donuts are dense and break off in even little segments, or perfectly in half so you can dunk them in coffee. This fonut was so delicate that it crumbled when I tried to split it in half and when I got a fork after the business, it only impaled the crumbs into smaller and smaller bits that were impossible to pick up, let alone put in my mouth. Frustrated, I stood up and looked at my dissected little fonut and stared at it with impatience.

“I’m sorry, sweetie, but you are not a donut at all! You’re just a fonut, a very cute cake nut, with a hole in the middle!” I said, still trying to understand it. I wanted it to be perfect. I wanted it to scream donut. But it didn’t. It just said fonut.

Granted, I didn’t get to try all their flavors, so maybe I just so happened to try the one that was the least like a donut and my review is, like the product, completely wrong, but just because it isn’t fried doesn’t mean it should also fall apart in my lap. At least it lived up to its’ name and looked adorable doing it.